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THE MAN FROM HONOLULU 



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Lr, vV-C^r^i 



The Man From Honolulu 

and 

What He Saw in Oshkosh 




One of Ihe IJonn in the New CarthiiKr Buildins 



Oshkosh 

Published by The Daily Northwestern Carriers 

1913 



/- 6) 



'{Q 



What Is In It 



Page 

I. He Sees the Library and the Parks, . 3 

II. Where Veneered Doors are Made, . . 5 

III. Carpets Made from Grass, . . . 11 

IV. Steel Horseshoes, 14 

V. A Farm by the Lake Side, ... 17 

VI. Money in a Small Farm, . . . .20 

VII. "Waite" for the Grass Rugs, ... 23 

VIII. Making Bottle Wrappers, ... 27 

IX. Curios from the Old World, ... 28 



Copyright 1912 by the Hicks Printing Company 



©Ci.A331521 



L 



CHAPTER I 

He Sees the Library and the Parks 

A well-emplu.vfii iind prosiierou.s community can buy and uunsurm-. An ill- 
employed community cannot buy and consume. This is the solution ol' Uie whole 
matter and the whole science of political economy has not one truth of lialt so 
much importance as this. 

— Daniel IVebster in the United States Senate, Miirrli j. 1S40. 



D 



left Honolulu several months ago, landed at San Francisco from a 
Japanese steamer, and I have visited several American cities east and 
west. I have been in Oshlcosh more than two weeks. I have seen 
many things that interested me greatly, and I am writing for the 
benefit of my friends in Honolulu. 

I want first to express my gratitude to my friend, Solomon Scovandyke, 
an Oshkosh man who has shown me the sights with the greatest kindness. 
My friend Scovandyke is not so young as he was when I met him several 
years ago, but he jjossesses one of those happy natures that never seem to 
grow old and I have no doubt that when I come again he will be just as 
young as he is now. 

First he took me to the Public Library, an institution that Oshkosh 
people seem to be proud of. 

"Carnegie money?" I asked. 

"Xo," said Mr. Scovandyke. "Oshkosh money built it. We're rather 
glad of that." 

I was struck with the beautiful classic design of the front. 

"Boston architect?" I said to my friend. 

"Not on your life. The architect is an Oshkosh man, William Waters, 
who has made more beautiful buildings than any other man in Wisconsin." 

Mr. Scovandyke called my attention to the bronze lions standing guard 
at the library steps. 

"Made by Trentanove, the Italian sculptor. Col. .John Hicks paid for 
them and presented them to the city." 

For two or three minutes I stood and gazed at the lions, admiring the 
wonderful skill of the artist who could design a pair of lions so spirited and 
life-like and yet so void of any harshness or brutality. I have seen marble 
and bronze lions in Germany, France. Italy and England, but I never saw 
anything more artistic or beautiful than those at the Oshkosh library. 

Inside, the library has an air of refinement and culture rarely found in 
such institutions. The art collection surprised me. There were several 
original pieces of statuary by Hiram Powers, author of "The Greek Slave," 
a characteristic bronze bust of Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider, and 
several marble busts by Trentanove. .-Xniong the latter is one of Col. John 
Hicks, presented to the library by the artist. Prof. Trentanove, of Florence. 
Probably no city in the United States the size of Oshkosh can show such a 
collection of high-class art. 

I was told that the library had about 30,000 volumes and was patronized 
better than any library in the state — -that is, the proportion of readers to the 
size of the library is greater than in any other library. Quite literary for a 
western town, this seems to me. 



THE MAN FROAr HONOLULU 



Scovandyke had his automobile ready and so off we started for 
Menominee park. Down by the smooth water of a large inland lake, I found 
a most attractive place, laid out with fine drive-ways, beds of beautiful 
flowers, now showing the first effects of autumn, and the most enchanting 
water views on three sides. 

But what surprised me most was the statues. There was a magnificent 
bronze figure of an Indian, looking out over the lake with a mystical glance 
as if awaiting a communication from the other world. 

"Who made that?" I asked. 

"Trentanove again." 

On the other side, with a little artificial lake for a background, was a 
fine effigy of George Washington, in bronze. 

"Trentanove?" said I. 

"No," said Scovandyke. "That's a replica of the famous Houdon statue 
of Washington in the state house at Richmond, Virginia." 

"Lots of culture in Oshkosh," I said. 

"It is not culture, it's Hicks. He set up both the monuments." 

"While we are at it," said my friend, "let's go and see South Park." 

It takes years to develope the natural beauty of a park, and the park on 
the South Side gives promise of great beauty in the future. It has artificial 
lakes, fine flower-beds, rustic bridges and good drives. 

As we crossed the Main Street bridge, Scovandyke pointed out Riverside 
Park, with its bit of green bordering the river. 

"Ought to be called Bray Park," Scovandj'ke said. 

"W. M. Bray gave it to the city. He's a young man of wealth and good 
standing." 

Scovandyke and I stojiped to get a little lunch. 




Scovandyke and the Man from Honolulu 



YEN HERE D l)()() R S 




Unveiling the Lions at the Public Library 



CHAPTER II 

Where Veneered Doors Are Made 

"Come on, and let us visit tlie Paino [^umber Company's plant, the 
largest sash and door factory in the world, the great feature of Oshkosh 
manufacturing." 

Thus spake Scovandyke, and then he said: "That is certainly^ a huge 
institution the Paine Lumber Company operates. Just think of the 
families in Oshkosh that depend upon that concern (or their livelihood. 
The total number of persons employed when all departments are operating at 
full capacity is ,'{.000. The employees of the veneer mill number 300. In the 
saw mill there are 300. The number working in the old and new sash and 
door plant and planing mill is 2,300. There are sixty-five emplo.ves in the 
office. That is quite a growth from the pioneer days when at oiie stage of 
the company's develojiment there wasan office force of four persons. 
Edward L. Paine, the father, Charles N. Paine, George M. Paine, and 
an all-around clerk and bookkeeper. George M. Paine is president 
of the present Paine Lumber Company. He was seventy-nine years of 
age the 1 1th of November, yet he is as straight as a sapling in the company's 
forest reserves and as sturdy and vigorous as an oak. He is a man of aris- 
tocratic l)earing, yet most likable, nnd he has as firm a grasp upon the activi- 
ties of the comi)any as in his younger days. His sons, Edward \V. Paine and 
Xalhan Paine, are actively interested in the business. An important cog in 
the wheel that moves the whole institution is Charles Nevitt. treasurer of 
the company. 



'I'Hl-; .MAX FIJO.M lloXUl.l' I. r 



■'Just to S've you an idea of the enormous capacity ot tlie Paine plant," 
continued Scovandylte, "I have gathered some interesting statistics in this 
regard. Here they are: Length ot docks »t the comliined plants, two miles; 
combined capacity of power plants, 8,250 liorse power; lumber capacity of 
dry kilns, 1,000,000 feet; saw mill capacity, 100,000,000 feet of lumber a 
year; veneer mill capacity, 45,000,000 feet of logs a year; door capacity, 
1,500,000 doors a year; sash capacity. l.OiMi.ooo windows a .vear; capacity 
tor making blinds, 150,000 pairs a year; moulding capacity, 25,000,000 feet 
a year: box capacity, 16,000 boxes a day." 

.\t this point the Man from Honolulu ventured to interrupt his statisti- 
cally crammed friend by remarking that he could now comprehend how the 
Paine Lumber Company makes two-thirds of, all the standard veneer doors in 
the world, since the establishment has a capacity for turning out the enor- 
mous numl>er of one million, five hundred thousand doors in a year's time. 

"They Send their doors all over the world, all right." said Scovaiidyke. 
"I made it a point to And out some ot the big hotels and other buildings 
where Paine doors have been furnished. The list includes the Rice Hotel at 
Houston, Tex.: the Congress Hotel, Chicago; the Hotel Ten Eyck, Albany. 
N. Y.; the Cotton Exchange, Dallas, Tex.; the Southwestern Life Insurance 
Building, Dallas, Tex.; the Mount Washington Hotel, White Mountains; the 
Tacoma Building, Tacoma, Wash.; the Multonomah Building. Portland, Ore.; 
the Parliament buildings of Canada, Ottawa. 

"This Paine factory," said Scovandyke. "is closely connected by two 
trunk line railroads with the company's own timber lands and forest reserves 
in Northern Wisconsin, where private logging railroads connect with the 
logging camps and woods operations. The tlml)er area reserved by the com- 
pany for the plant guarantees a supply of logs for full capacity for the next 
forty years, so you see Oshkosh will not soon lose this mighty industry unless 
the unforeseen happens. The plant here includes a double saw mill, a veneer 
mill, planing mill, stock work mill for doors and other millwork, and odd 
work mill for doois and other caliinet or special woodwork, together with 




Cutting Out Sheets of Veneer 



\' KX !•: ]•]]{ !•; I) !)()() I,' s 




Section of Veneer Showing the Grain of the Wood 



spacious Wii rehouses, yards and dockage. There are private electric railroads 
about the plant for the transportation of the general products. All the new 
buildings are equipped with electric pow-er, the center power-house being 
the largest and most modern private power plant ever liuilt for woodworking 
purposes." 

Arriving at the offices. Scovandyke and I were most courteously received 
and an official of the company volunteered to show us the whole process of 
making standard veneered doors. The visitors were taken to the veneer mill 
in West .\lgonia, on the apposite side of the Fox river from the sash and door 
making plant, crossing on the old bridge which next spring will give way to 
a modern bascule bridge. In order to trace the whole process from the log 
to the finished product, the start was made at the river bank, near the rear 
of the mill, where there were huge piles of logs ready to lie transformed 
into beautiful veneer, great sheets of it that eventually would be cut into 
sections, dried, glued uj) in such form as suitable for doors and then put 
together in the finished article. It might be well to state here that nearly 
all the logs now used by the Paine Lumber Company come to Oshkosh in 
train loads from the Wisconsin forests and from the west. .Tust now many 
of the logs are shipped from the company's lands in Langlade county. 
Arriving at the saw nvill on the east side of the river, the logs are sorted, 
part of them going to the saw mill and the others being sent across the river 
to the veneer mill and there re-sorted. The different kinds of wood used in 
making veneer are birch, oak, mahogany and basswood. Each class gives a 
different sort of veneer. Perhaps some people do not know what veneer is. 
A dictionary definition of it is this: "A thin leaf or layer of a finer or more 
beautiful wood glued to a more common wood, thus giving a superior surface 



8 THE MAN FROM HONOLULU 

for finishing or decorating." Doors made up from veneer are stronger and 
more able to hold their shape under all climatic conditions and changes than 
the old style of solid wood door and the advantage of the veneer door is that 
In the natural finish there is a much more beautiful grain than where the 
solid wood is used. 

But to get back to the beginning again. After the logs are re-sorted at 
the veneer plant they are placed on cars on an electric railway and carried 
to a cross-cut saw, where they are cut into proper size for fitting into the 
veneer machines, one large and one small one. Then the logs are rolled into 
the boiling vats, a number of these vats being arranged in a series, the tops 
being on a level with the floor of the mill. Each vat holds a number of logs 
and the water in each is kept continually at the boiling point by a series of 
steam pipes down in the water. In these vats each log remains for twenty- 
four hours, so that when it comes out, steaming hot, like a weinerwurst from 
a stewpan, the boiling water has reached every nook and corner in the wood, 
clear to the heart, and it is "cooked tender" and ready for the hungry veneer 
machine, with its one sharp tooth, a long knife of steel. Once out of the 
vat — getting them out is accomplished by a powerful electric hoist on a 
moving crane — men strip the bark from the water-saturated, steaming log 
and it is rolled along and again hoisted, this time over the veneer machine. 
The heart of the log is marked at each- end to determine the exact center 
and the log is lowered into the machine, the ends being fastened into a heavy 
chuck. Lengthwise of the machine is a knife 100 inches long. The chuck is 
revolved after the manner of the ordinary turning lathe. As the log turns 
around on the chuck and is pressed against the long knife, a sheet of veneer 
of the standard thickness of an eighth of an inch is peeled off like paring an 
apple. The sheet of veneer, appearing like a huge sheet of leather, 100 
Inches wide, and sometimes 100 feet or more in length, is moved along 
smoothly over a long table by traveling steel chains. As the veneer sheet 
leaves the machine it passes beneath a row of huge lead pencils which mark 
black lines lengthwise of the sheets, these being necessary to designate the 
outside face of the veneer, so that when the veneer pieces are glued up this 
outside surface will be on the outside to prevent checking. .\s the sheets of 
veneer move along, big knives descend at intervals and cut the sheets up into 
large sections, other knives again cutting these sections into smaller portions 
of suitable size for the panels, stiles and rails of doors. 

Not all of each log is used in turning out the veneer sheets. The core 
that is left is transported to a miniature saw mill, there to be cut up into 
lumber. There is nothing wasted, for the bark and other trimmings are sent 
to what is called the "hog," a machine that cuts and grinds the pieces into 
small bits that are then fed into the furnaces under the boilers in the engine 
room. 

After they are cut into the proper sizes, the veneers are carried in con- 
veyors to the drier, where the pieces move slowly along between innumerable 
iron rollers that are heated. The atmosphere in the drier remains at a tem- 
perature of 2 40 degrees. It is like a great oven, with asbestos lined walls, 
and is of such size that it takes just forty-five minutes for each piece of 
veneer to pass through. When the veneers come out they are dry and baking 
hot. The heat warps the eighth of an inch veneers somewhat, ))ut not enough 
to retard handling. Steps are l>eing taken to add a quick cooling arrange- 
ment to the drier, so that the pieces will keep perfectly flat, the absence of 
any warping facilitating the handling of the pieces. 

Next in its adventurous journey from log to door, the veneers, upon 
leaving the drier, get a free ride on conveyors to the gluing department. 



\KNKKKK1) DOORS 9 

Here men and women, in iiiiiking the panels, rnn the veneers through a 
machine that si)reads a sine upon the surfaces to be glued together, 
and three pieces are assembled to make each panel. Each piece being an 
eighth of an inch thick, the resulting panel is three-eighths of an inch in 
thickness. The grain of the middle piece extends in a direction opposite the 
grain of the two outside pieces, and this crossing of the grain is the secret 
of the non-warping quality of veneer doors. The glue used is secured in 
South America. As fast as the employes place the three layers of veneer for 
each panel, these three thicknesses are laid upon large sheets of metal, and 
piles of these sheets are squeezed in hydraulic presses that exert a pressure 
of SOO pounds to the square inch. The panels remain in these for 
several hours, until the glue has become thoroughly dry. Finally the panels, 
which come out of the presses perfectly flat, are trimmed at sawing machines 
and are then ready for the door department. For any one piece of veneer 
to pass through the evolution from log to panel requires in all only about 
eight or len hours. There is no wasted energy, no pronounced interruptions 
in the various steps of the process. Everything moves along at a certain 
steady rale of speed, and not a hitch occurs all day long, except on rare 
occasions, when some certain machine balks or needs repairs. Clock-work 
precision is maintained and the result is a constant stream of panels turned 
out each working day. 

No less interesting is the door-making department in the enormous brick 
factory on the east side of the river, to w-hich the panels are taken from 
the veneer mill. In making the stiles and rails for the doors, small pieces 
of soft wood are glued up in strips and dovetailed together, and the veneers 
then glued upon these fillers, as in making the panels. The outside edges of 
the stiles are strips of the same wood as the veneers, so that the soft wood 
filler does not show at all. Cull portions of logs are used for the filler, thus 
utilizing what would have been unavailable years ago when a carpenter spent 
days making a single door of the old style. 

Machines bore holes in the rails for the dowels, which are little round 
sticks of hard wood that are turned out by other machines, and also glue the 
dowels into the rails. Other machines place glue in the holes in the side 
lengths or stiles and all the parts — panels, stiles and rails — are properly 
assembled and a power clamp, or "squeezer," presses all the parts together 
tightly. The door is now ready for finishing. The surfaces are sanded 
smooth by powerful machines that sand both sides at once. Some 
doors have six panels, others have two, some have one large one, and 
still others have none, depending upon the styles catalogued or specially or- 
dered. The no-panel door is used considerably in hospitals, on account of 
being without surfaces that would catch dust, and are therefore more sani- 
tary. Some veneered doors have handsome inlays put in. Others have open- 
ings of various shapes for glass. When finished, the doors present a most 
t>eautiful appearance on account of the rich effect in the grain of the veneer. 
A popular door turned out by the company has veneered panels, with the 
stiles and rails or solid spruce. Not a few birch doors are stained to repre- 
sent mahogany, the resemblance being striking. Wisconsin birch is called 
the American mahogany, and it deserves the term applied. 

In completing the inspection, the visitors were conducted to the power 
plant. Here great steam turbines, revolving on oil-cooled bearings, furnish 
the mighty power for keeping the machinery of the main sash and door 
departments going. The furnaces are fed with sawdust and shavings carried 
thereto in a system of pipe conveyors. 



10 



THE .MAX FHO.M llOXOl.l LI 



When we got outside, alter seeing all the remarkable operations through 
which the materials going into a door pass, Mr. Scovandyke evidently was 
carried away, by a thought that he wanted to voice. "That is a wonderful 
institution," he said. 'Must think of the vast amount of money that the 
Paine Conii)any pays out every week and month for the thousands of em- 
ployes. The money does not go outside of Oshkosh, but finds its way to the 
merchants and into the other avenues that make up the sum total of living. 
Conditions in those plants are splendid. The lighting is good, the ventilation 
excellent and the precaution against fire up to the highest standard. There 
are also safety devices on the machines for the protection of the workers, and 
I think, from what 1 saw. that the bulk of the employes are an intelligent 
and contented lot. 

"What impressed me greatly was the way every scrap of lumber is util- 
ized. Nothing is wasted. Years ago. before the veneered door came upon 
the stage of action, there was much waste, I am told. There is none in that 
establishment now. There is an old saying that the man who can make two 
blades of grass grow in the place of one is a creator of wealth and a public 
benefactor. The Paine Lumber Company certainly has a most worthy insti- 
tution and it is a mighty factor in the industrial prosperity of Oshkosh." 




(' A U V 



TS M A I) K () K (! Ia' A SS 



11 




Getting In the Grass 



CHAPTER III 



Carpets Made of Grass 



■When 1 was at Baltimore, on my way to Oshkosh," I said lo Scovandyke, 
"I noticed ttiat the people there used a great amount of peculiar carpeting. 
When 1 asked them what it was, they said it was 'grass matting,' and that it 
was made at Oshkosh.'' 

"Sure," said my friend. "That was 'Deltox' that you saw, and it was 
made right here by the Oshkosh Grass Matting Company. You would hardly 
believe it, but that concern takes the tough fibre grass that grows on the 
marsh meadows, runs it through a machine that transforms it into twine 
about as big around as a lead pencil, makes the twine up into mats and run- 
ners in huge looms, and then binds the product and stencils beautiful de- 
signs upon it. There is a big market for the matting, and the demand grows 
yearly." 

"I'd like to see them make that article," 1 said. 

"That's easy enough." declared my Oshkosh friend. "I am well 
acquainted with the hustling vice-president and general manager of the com- 
pany, Emil H. Steiger. and 1 know he will be glad to show us through. Come 
on, we will pay him a visit. The plant is at 2.5 Wisconsin avenue, on the 
hank of the Fox river, just north of the Wisconsin avenue passenger bridge, 
and is only a short walk from the business district. 

"It shows a lot of ingenuity and enterprise for men to take marsh hay, 
that a few years ago was considered absolutely worthless, and work it into 
such a splendid, marketable article," moralized Scovandyke. "I can remem- 
ber when they could not give away marsh grass. It was too tough — regular 
fiber, you know — for stock to eat, and it was hard to get at and cut. But 
now there is a heavy demand for marsh fiber grass, and the Oshkosh Grass 
Matting Company ships in huge quantities of it each summer, by boat and 
rail, the concern owning or leasing many thousands of acres of marsh 
meadows both in this country and Canada. The hay they get, I understand, 
i-epresents a cost to them of from $1.5 to $18 a ton. A dozen years ago you 
could buy it for a song." 



12 THE MAX FKo.M lloXOLll.T 

Arriving at tlie matting jilant, 1 was impressred witli tlie appearance of a 
mamniotli warelioiin- nortlieast of the factory. "Tliat wareliouse," said my 
guide. " is destined to go down in tlie fiistory of Osfiliosh as a famous place. 
And tlie name of Eniil H. Steiger will go along with it.- for he was "the man 
of the hour,' for a while, at least. You see. former President Theodore 
Roosevelt was to come to Oshkosh, Ootol)er 1 1, for a speech in the Progressive 
party campaign of 1912. and while the city prepared to royally entertain the 
Progressive chieftain, the proposition for a big auditorium here had not then 
matured, and Oshkosh was confronted with the situation of having no place 
large enough to accommodate the thousands who wanted to hear the coloiiel. 
Two halls had been engaged, it being planned to urge Colonel Roosevelt to 
give his address twice, so that more people could hear him. Even with this 
arrangement less than 3.000 could have heard. Then came Emil Steiger to 
the rescue. He offered the use of this huge warehouse, which had just been 
completed at a cost of from $12,000 to $15,000. The warehouse was made 
into a temporary auditorium that was ideal for the purpose. A stage was 
erected and park benches and chairs arranged to seat aliout 6,500 people. 
When Roosevelt stepped out to give his speech he looked into a sea of faces 
numbering about 10,000. and there were about 4,000 who could not get into 
the great structure, at that. The affair was a mighty success and much of 
the credit was due to Mr. Steiger." 

We found Mr. Steiger in his office. l>usily inspecting some beautiful col- 
oi'ed plates, showing the various designs of matting. He expressed his willing- 
ness to show the visitors through the plant. "We might as well start at the 
beginning," he explained, and the party went to the warehouse. Here were 
piled up huge quantities of marsh hay, or fiber. This tough 'wire-grass,' 
some of it shipped in from up-river marshes by boat and some by train from 
far distant points, was in rough, loose bales, just as it had been tied together 
on the marshes. The warehouse has a capacity of about 25,000 bales, each 
weighing nearly 200 pounds. The fibre, Mr. Steiger explained, is cut on the 
meadows by hand, as machine cutting was not satisfactory. Using the scythe 
is cheaper and the grass easier handled. The grass cutters form camps and 
the work of cutting, baling, loading and hauling makes the marsh lands 
scenes of great activity at the harvest season. Some grass comes from 
Winnipeg, Can. .\bout 750 carloads are needed each season. 

From the warehouse, the party proceeded to the spinning room, where 
sixty-two twine-making machines were in operation. The first thing the 
operators do is to comb the grass. Each man takes a double handful of the 
hay and pull it through a set of long, upright teeth of wire, like a huge 
comb. This combs out the short stuff and waste and leaves a bundle of long, 
tough fibers. Slow moving conveyors carry the hay to the combers and like- 
wise carry it along to the spinning machines. These latter are the invention 
of two Oshkosh men. The fiber is fed into a hopper and revolving, grooved 
disks carry the strands along into a funnel-shaped passage, where they are 
mechanically assembled into a continuous rope about the size of a clothes 
line. Around this is wrapped a spiral of light cotton thread to hold the fibers 
tightly together in the rope form. The completed grass tw-ine issues from 
the machine upon a huge spool. As soon as a spool is filled, the twine is cut, 
the spool taken off and an empty one substituted, while the filled spool, after 
being weighed, is carried to the weaving room, where huge looms rattle and 
pound. From the spools, the grass twine is wound on big bobbins by ma- 
chines operated mostly by women. The bobbins are put into huge wooden 
shuttles, which fly back and forth across the looms like catapults. Women 
and men work at the looms, which are not different from the ordinary loom 
except that they are especially built for grass twine work. In the loom the 



CA IJ I' M'I'S MAD !•; () 



ASS 



13 



general color scheme of the rugs and art squares is worked out by means of 
the cotton warp. This warp is a strong thread that forms a chain to hold 
together the grass twine. Different colors of warp are used to give different 
general color tones. For instance, in some rugs the cotton warp will all be 
red, and in others it will l)e green, brown, blue, yellow, or some other color. 
In some rugs there are borders, panels and stripes of a color different from 
the main coloring of the piece, the effect being decidedly handsome. This 
is obtained by arranging the different colors in the wari). From the looms 
the malting goes to the trimming department, where it is cut into the proper 
lengths and all roughness cut off with the shears. Girls at motor-driven 
sewing machines then s^ew on the tape l)indings around the outer edges or 
ends. 

The final o|)eration in the manufacture of the matting is decorating it 
in the stenciling department. Here artists put the finishing touch to the 
product, painting through the stencil designs with brushes dipped in an espe- 
cially prepared paint, which is thoroughly mixed in large tanks by paddles 
whirled by electric motors. .\11 sorts of artistic designs and colors are worked 
out in the rugs with the stenciling patterns. 

From the stenciling department the matting, after inspection and proper 
marking and recording, is formed into rolls and put in cloth bags ready for 
shipment. There are usually six rugs or art squares to a package, the bags 
protecting the product in transit. A carload of matting represents a value of 
between $6.00n and $10,000. Last year the Oshkosh Grass Matting Com- 
pany did a business amounting to about $800,000. Indications are it will 
reach an even million of dollars next year, Mr. Steiger stated. 

There are 350 persons employed at the factory, and the piece-work sys- 
tem prevails in many of the operations entering into the finished product. 




Emil H. Steiger, Vice-President and Manager of the 
Oshkosh Grass Matting Company 



14 THE MAN FROM lloXOLL'LU 

There is a growing demand for grass matting because it is sanitary, artistic 
reversible and cheap. It is also remarkably durable. Rugs can be purchased 
for from fitly cents up. The city of Baltimore uses more of the Oshkosh 
product than any other city in the United States, but it is to be found in 
almost any part of the country where floor coverings are used. 

The company has reduced the cost of manufacture at every possible 
point. It operates its own electric lighting plant and power for its machinery 
is generated by its own dynamos. It found that by having its own electric 
plant means a yearly saving of about $500. 

The company is about to erect a dye house for the dyeing of the cotton 
yarn used in the warp. This yarn is now purchased in the south, coming in 
various colors, but it is the purpose to save by coloring the thread here. 
A recent purchase of the company was 1,000,000 pounds of this thread. 
There are about 10,000 acres of marsh land owned by the company and other 
acreages are controlled by the concern. The summer months form the quiet- 
est period in the company's market, so it gives an opportunity to fill the stock 
room for the fall trade. In one pile in the stock room were 5,000 bags of 
matting, each bag holding six or more rugs. The product is handled entirely 
by the jobbing trade. 

The late Leander Choate was formerly at the head of the company. His 
widow, Mrs. Adeline P. Choate. is now president, Emil H. Steiger is vice- 
president and general manager, J. J. Steiger is treasurer, and W. H. Genske 
is secretary. Emil H. Steiger controls the majority of the stock. 



CHAPTER IV 



Making Horseshoes by Machinery 

"Up at the plant of the Challoner Company, on Osceola street," said 
Scovandyke, "the Giant Grip Horse Shoe Company, infant son of the Chal- 
loner Company, turns out about four horseshoes a minute every working 
day." 

"Is that so?" I said. "That arouses my interest. I know quite a bit 
about horses, but I am like the average citizen, I never saw horseshoes made, 
at least, so far as I can recollect. Of course, I know in a general sort of 
way how the blacksmith bends and beats them into shape, tempers them and 
the like." 

"That is not the way they do it at the establishment here," Mr. 
Scovandyke replied. "The Giant Grip Company turns 'em out almost like 
flapping wheat cakes on a hot griddle. It's not like they used to do in the 
'village smithy.' At the Oshkosh plant the steel is bent by machinery, drop 
forged and punched by machinery, and the calks are likewise forged and 
trimmed by machines, and it takes only about a jiffy to make a shoe and 
less than that to make a calk. They work day and night, and the.v say it's 
a great sight to see the men make the shoes at night, on account of the many 
weird and flickering lights, the brilliant sparks and the intense shadows." 

We found the manager, J. Fred Kern, at the office, and he was most 
amiable and willing to act as guide in a tour of the factory. As the machine 
shop was on the way to the horseshoe shop, this was visited first. Here 
about forty men, all expert machinists are employed in manufacturing and 
setting up shingle machines, also what is known as the Simonson log turner, 
besides special glue room equipments for veneer mills and lathe mill ma- 



HORSE. SHOES BY MACHINEKY 15 

chinery. These shingle and saw mill specialties are all manufaclured by the 
Challoner Company, which is the parent concern, while the Giant Grip Horse 
Shoe Company is a sort of offshoot with an individual name, in order to keep 
its accounts separate from the parent organization. 

It is interesting to note that the Challoner Company is a name to reckon 
with in logging history. Away back in 1S63, George Challoner began mak- 
ing machines that cut blocks of wood into shingles, and he started in a 
modest way at Oniro village. Eventually the plant was moved to Oshkosh. 
The business expanded and Messrs. C. W. George Everhart and William 
Ruckman bought it in 1901. In 1905 Mr. Everhart became the sole owner 
of the Challoner Company. He died August 17, 1911, a short time after he 
had branched out into the manufacture of calk horseshoes. The Challoner 
shingle machines are used the country over and the demand is now especially 
heavy from the Pacific coast saw-mill districts. Another machine that has 
a heavy demand in the far west is the Simonson log turner, which is espe- 
cially suited for handling the huge logs cut on the Pacific coast. Steam 
cylinders operate the loaders and turners on the saw carriages, and the appar- 
atus will easily turn a log eight feet in diameter and eighty feet long. 

Leaving the machine shop, with its mass of special tools and machines 
and its costly stamps and dies, the visitors were ushered into the structure 
where the horseshoes are made. Here a novel and impressive scene met the 
eye. About forty men are employed in this department and they work with 
a minimum of clothing, on account of the intense heat, notwithstanding a 
special ventilation and water cooling device at the furnaces and forges. With 
the peculiar furnace and forge lights illuminating their perspiring faces and 
their bare, muscular arms, any one of them might pass for a true model of 
Vulcan, the god of fire. 

The "giant grip" horseshoe and the special calk that goes with it are 
made separately and sold separately. The calk is the feature that gives the 
shoe its name, for it is designed only for winter use or where slippery con- 
ditions prevail, and is intended to do away with the danger of horses falling 
on wet or icy pavements. 

The process of manufacturing the giant grip horseshoes and calks Is 
most interesting to watch. The shoe itself is made from bars of steel of a 
special analysis. Much of this steel comes from the mills at Pittburgh. Just 
at present the local company is having difficulty getting additional supplies 
of the bars, because the steel men write that the mills are supplied with 
more orders than they can turn out, and some of them a while ago were not 
taking any more orders for six months in order to catch up. Enough orders 
have been placed, however, to furnish the material for an average season's 
output, and other orders will be placed later to supply what promises to be 
a much larger demand than ever before experienced by the concern. 

The bars of steel are heated in furnaces that burn oil, jets of flames from 
the oil producing intense heat. Then the red hot bar is placed in the bender, 
a small, sturdy machine that forms the bar into the approximate shape of the 
shoe. This shoe form is re-heated and is forged into the correct shape and 
size by a huge drop hammer that has a falling weight of 1,500 pounds. This 
drop hammer has one die in the lower or anvil block and the upper die is in 
the ram, which descends upon the anvil block. It is next passed along to the 
gang punch, which punches out the nail holes and calk holes. Finally it is 
put into the trimming press, where the excess metal is trimmed off by the 
machine. After being properly cooled and insi)ected it is placed in kegs 
with others of its kind, ready for shipment. The shop has a capacity for 
making from 2,200 to 2,500 shoes in ten hours. A record has 1)een made of 
turning out one shoe, known as a No. 6, in the short space of fifteen seconds. 



16 



THE MAN FROM HONOLULU 



Five different sizes for fi-oiit and hind feet are made for driving, tliese being 
numbered from 1 to 5, consecutively. There are also five sizes for draft 
horses, these being numbered from 4 to 8. 

The calks are made from round bars of tool steel. The bar is heated in 
the oil furnaces and the calk is forged from the bar by a droi) hammer of 
SOO pounds falling weight. Then the calk goes through the trimming press 
and is re-heated in a special furnace and swaged. Then it goes to a forming 
press that forms the shank of the calk to the exact size of the hole in the 
shoe. Finally it is put through the tempering bath that makes the chisel- 
shaped face hard enough to withstand the wear on the roads. Finally it is 
inspected and boxed. This year the company will manufacture a total of 
four and one-half millions of calks. 

The way the Giant Grip Horse Shoe Company became established at 
Oshkosh ds interesting. The shoe had been manufactured at Little Falls, 
Minn., for several years, but the concern back of it did not have much money 
or system and it had many ups and downs, mostly downs, since it was unable 
to push the sale as it should. The late C. W. George Everhart, then president 
of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, recognized the exceptional merits of 
the shoe and he bought the concern out and moved the whole outfit to this 
city, bringing along the foreman of the shop, about half of the experienced 
employes and their families. He put in high-grade machinery and placed the 
manufacture upon a scientific basis. The transfer was made in the summer 
of 1911, and the business was only fairly under way when Mr. Everhart's 
sudden death came in August of that same year. But his wisdom in interest- 
ing himself in the business and putting it upon its feet has been demonstrated 




Interior of the Horse Shoe Plant, Showing Giant Hammer 



T. A K !•: R I-; S T F A R Af 



17 




stamping Out the Steel Horse Shoes 



Photo by Luck 



remarkably. The sales in 1912 were double those of the first year. Before 
the industry was moved to this city it never did a business greater than 
$36,000. Now the annual business is from $150,000 to $200,000. The busi- 
ness of the plant making mill machinery is about $100,000 a year. 

Prospects for 1913 are exceedingly bright for the horseshoe company. 
The product is shipped to the heavy hardware jobbers only and is not sup- 
plied directly to the trade. The demand tor the shoes is confined to the snow 
belt, since the shoes are essentially for winter and slippery conditions. 



CHAPTER V 

Lake Rest Farm 



A brief automobile spin on the south side of the river and the two 
friends were on their way through the country. The Man from Honolulu 
commented on the fine streets and neat and up-to-date residences of the 
south side of Oshkosh and was particularly enthusiastic at the business bustle 
and evident prosperity of Oregon street. And as the southern city limits 
were reached and the automobile sped over the Doty street and Fond du Lac 
road, there was a splendid view of expansive and majestic Lake Winnebago. 
The picturesque shore, heavily wooded and with here and there groups of 
cottages denoting a summer resort, formed a picture not soon to be forgotten. 
Where some time before there had been an abundance of greenery, there was 
now a riot of brilliant tints of autumn, the reds and browns and yellows being 



18 



THE MAX FROM HONOLULU 





Gathering the Apiih- 



I' hard 



used with lavish hand. Everywhere there was the mellowness and Impressive 
but indescribable charm of the fall season. "This smell of the country gets 
me," said the Man from Honolulu, as he sniffed and inhaled deeply, and a 
smile of contentment spread over his face. "I don't wonder the farmer is 
held under the hypnotic spell of Mother Nature and thinks about all the 
stuffy city is good for is to trade with and visit occasionally." 

Soon the friends had arrived at a large and handsome white house, the 
home of Mrs. .1. P. Roe and her son, James W. Roe. "This is the place," 
said Scovandyke. The Man from Honolulu made an observation of the farm, 
which comprises fifty acres of fertile soil. In front of the stately residence 
was an expanse of velvety lawn, as level and closely cropped as any lawn in 
the city close by. Numerous old and sturdy trees gave generous shade. At 
one side of the house was a huge flower garden in which were all sorts of 
bright blossoms, some common, some rare. Mixed in were various shrubs 
and i)lants, the whole forming a graceful combination. At the rear were 
three huge greenhouses, each one hundred by twenty-four feet in size. In 
two of the greenhouses vegetables were growing and in the other were more 
flowers and plants in beds. Off beyond the barn, chicken coops and pig pens, 
was the orchard, the trees all being al)out the same size and growing in 
regular rows, as the trees in any well-ordered orchard should grow. Then 
across the road, towards the lake, were the long rows of celery, with the 
green tops waving above the soil heaped up at either side to cover the stalks. 
And l)eyond the celery beds was to l)e seen the grove, the cottages, the penin- 
sula of land and the lagoon of what is now known as Lake Rest summer 
resort, in former years called Roe's point. 

A hunt about the grounds resulted in locating James W. Roe — the man 
with the diversified occupation — far down in the orchard, where he and a 



L A K E R E 8 'J^ F A R M 



19 



crew of assistants were picking apples and paclcing them in Ijarrels for ship- 
ment to market. The accompanying photograph, taken by a Northwestern 
photographer, shows the apple packing scene in the orchard. 

The Lake Rest Fruit Farm, as the Roe family has named the properly. 
has an orchard of about twenty-five acres. Here apples, plums and cherries 
are grown. Most of the apples are the fall varieties, among the kinds being 
Wealthies, Mclntoshes and Snows, for which latter the more dignified name 
of Fameuse is applied. Mi-. Roe grows a good size crop of Greenings, also, 
these being suited for winter, keeping well. During the last season Jlr. Roe 
picked about 4,000 bushels of apples in his orchard, possibly two-thirds of 
them being Wealthies. They were packed in barrels directly in the orchard 
and large quantities of them were shipped to the northern markets. Im- 
proved native plums, which have a wild flavor, were raised to the extent 
of about 150 bushels. This was a good year for cherries, so far as the Roe 
farm was concerned, about 100 cases being packed. A fancy stock of toma- 
toes is grown at Lake Rest farm, the variety being the Buckstaff and 
Livingston Beauty. About 10,000 baskets, each holding about a fifth of a 
bushel, were packed this fall. The fancy tomatoes were shipped for table 
use and the remainder went to the canning factories. In the vegetal)le gar- 
dens, Mr. Roe makes it a point to raise large quantities of "dry" onions, as 
there is a heavy demand for them through the winter months. Much celery 
is also grown. 




A Shady Nook on the Lake Shore 



20 



T H E M A X V\U)\\ 1 1 () X ( ) I . r T. 




In the Melon Patch at Rasmussen's 



CHAPTER VI 



The Rasmussen Fruit Farm 



. You will find few farms in the whole county that have anything like a 
"run-down" appearance. The farm houses are for the most part large and 
modern, well painted and neat, and the same is true of the silo stock and 
storage barns. Other features of the premises all denote thrift and pros- 
perity. "Scientific farming methods are supplanting the old, hit or miss, 
slip-shod way, with the result that the crop yields are bigger every year and 
the quality of the product has been raised to the highest possible point. 
Every bit of productiveness of the soil is secured, waste is reduced to the 
minimum and farming has been put upon a strictly business basis, and the 
dollars and cents end of it is looked-after as carefully as is done in any of the 
modern industrial establishments of Oshkosh. Cleanliness and sanitation 
have swept away dirt and unhealthfulness. The quality of the stock and 
poultry has gone steadily upwards through these same scientific methods, 
and to be a successful farmer nowadays you have got to keep thoroughly 
posted along a great many lines. Intensive instead of extensive farming is 
today the thing in Winnebago county. Now that I have relieved my mind a 
little on this subject, we will visit the country and 'get close to Nature.' " 

Climbing into the automobile, we first went to the farm of N. A. 
Rasmussen, located on the Omro road, about five miles from Oshkosh. Mr. 
Rasmussen is one of the most prominent gardeners in the county and sup- 
plies the wholesale trade, using the modern method of bringing his products 
to market in an automobile truck wagon. He is active in farming and hor- 
ticultural organizations of the county and state and is an enthusiastic ex- 
ponent of the experimental work of the agricultural school of the University 
of Wisconsin. He firmly believes in fighting the enemies of growing things 
by means of spraying, and has done much to prove the worth of spraying 
among other farmers of the county. His farm is not large, comparatively, 



R AS.MUSS KX F I? r I 



FA U M 



21 



being only aluiit twenty acres in oxtent. but he holds that conceatrated farm- 
ing and gardening on sniall areas bring greater financial returns than un- 
scientific and iiariial cultivation of extensive acreage. He keei's accounts 
that show that he is right, the figures sijeaking for themselves. 

Said Mr. Rasmiissen: "Concentrated or intf nf ive farming is what 
counts. Before scientific methods were much applied, the farmers had too 
much land and wasted their resources greatly. I maintain — and I know by 
experience that it can he done — that on every twenty acres of fertile soil as 
much produce should be raised as on eighty acres undsr the old system oT 
cultivating. Winnebago county is wonderfully productive for straight farm- 
ing, dairying or fruit raising. You can take your chi:i:e of ;:ny one line or 
all three. 

"The farmer <if today cannot conduct his farm as he did twenty years 
ago and expect to even pay taxes, let alone making a profit. .Vlany have 
adopted the scientific methods and many more will fall in line in the future. 
Cleanliness and sanitation are the great secrets of farm success now. which 
is true of all other businesses. Every farmer who owns from twenty to 
forty acres of lajid in the county ought to be able to hire all his help and do 
none of the work himself, attending only to the management of the place. 
But he cannot afford to do this unless he uses scientific processes." 

Mr. Rasmussen engages in a wide line of work. He has a herd of milch 
cows, conducting a dairy, and also raises alfalfa, fruit and vegetal)les. lii 
the fruit line he grows apples, plums and bush fruits. Among the varieties 
of apples raised are Early Duchess. .Mclntoshes. Greenings. Snows and Mc- 
Manns. Most all of the root crops that are in demand for the market are 
produced. .An acre of land is devoted to strawberries and another acre is 
given to tomatoes. Large quantities of berries are marketed, including black 
and red raspberries, currants, gooseberries and blackberries. A siiecialty is 
made of growing muskmelons. Farmers who do not build silos raise mangel- 
wurzels, a coarse variety of beet, and Mr. Rasmussen finds Ihes-e excellent 
food for his cattle. 

The apple cro|i this year was a bumper one. and the owner of the 
Rasmussen farm is enthusiastically in favor of spraying in order to prevent 
the various diseases and attacks of bugs and insects in gsneral. which so 
often ruin what otherwis-e wiuild lie splendid crojjs of perfect fruit. Sprayed 




Some Rural Beauties 



22 



thp: max from hoxoi.ulu 




N. A. Rasmussen, One of the Live Farmers 



trees mean a higher grade of fruit and better prices. Apple trees usually 
bear in from seven to eight years after being planted. Cultivation of a 
careful nature is the key to success. 

An interesting bit of information was given by Mr. Rasmussen con- 
cerning last season's crop of muskmelons. One and one-sixth acres of land 
were devoted to the melons, 1,782 hills being planted. The total crop 
amounted to 10,692 marketable melons and sold for a total of $515.62, 
which would make the average price of the melons about four and four- 
fifths cents apiece. 

In the matter of tomatoes, 2,200 plants were cultivated on the one acre 
set apart for this product, and from these were secured 49,500 pounds, or 
720 bushels of tomatoes, each plant yielding an average of twenty-two and 
one-half pounds. The crop brought $421.60 in the market, or almost one 
cent a pound. 

Just to show what can be done on a small farm if it is properly con- 
ducted, Mr. Rasmussen displayed his record of what the twenty acres did irf 
the producing line in the year 1911 as an example. Here are the interesting 
figures, representing the receipts: Five cows, $902.40; poultry, $210.15; 
tree fruit, $135.25: strawberries, $196.50; raspberries, $392.80; other 
bush fruits, $97; muskmelons, $513.65; tomatoes, $461.35: miscellaneous, 
including seeds, plants, roots and vegetables of all kinds, $1,387.20: total 
i-eceipts from farm, $4,296.30. 



G R A S S E U G S A N 1) C A R P E T S 23 

There are aliout :!00 laying hens on the Ilasnuisseu Fruit farm, and the 
poultry require much time and attention, and scientific methods are requirecf 
to get the best results. • 

"Dairying is not the same now that it was some years ago," said Mr. 
Rasmussen. "It used to be the plan to milk the cows and guess at the 
amounts of milk obtained and guess at the richness of the milk. Now it is a 
business proposition, purely. Each cow is put on a credit system. The milk 
given is weighed and tested and the cow is charged up with the results. If 
she does not come up to what she should in the quantity and quality of the 
milk, she is considered not worth her keep and is sold, to be replaced by 
more efficient milkers. In this way the herd is kept up to a high standard. 
1 consider the Guernseys the liest kind for heavy producers of milk tor 
making butter, while the Holsteins are more profitable for the sale of milk 
to cheese factories, since their milk gives more curd and less butter fat than 
the Guernseys. There is little of the real dairy butter made in this county 
now. It is mostly creamery butter." 



CHAPTER VII 

Grass Rugs and Carpets 

"Here is a statement as interesting as it is true: More than half of all 
the grass rugs used in the United States are made in Oshkosh," said 
Scovandyke. "And the number of rugs sold and the number manufactured 
every year is no small one either. And here is another interesting feature 
about this particular industry; Oshkosh, Wis., and St. Paul, Minn., are the 
only cities in the United States where grass rugs and matting are manu- 
factured extensively. Efforts have been made to start plants elsewhere, but 
these have not prospered and may be considered as negligible quantities." 

A concern that is doing much to put Oshkosh conspicuously on the 
map in the grass rug line is the Waite Grass Carpet Company, of which F. E. 
Waite is the president, George L. Gray is vice-president and O. T. Waite is 
secretary and treasurer. The Messrs. Waite are prominent residents of Osh- 
kosh and Mr. Gray resides at West Palm Beach, Fla. The Waite Company 
has a modern, two-story factory at the northern edge of the city, on Custer 
street, near Harrison. This structure is of brick and thoroughly flre-proof. 
It is built around a square court and is so arranged that additions can Ije 
made to the main plant and warehouse at any time that the demand for 
more space warrants. It was three years ago that the company moved into 
the present plant, which is situated on a site of the size of two city blocks, 
and its business has grown to large proportions. 

In locating in the northern part of the city the company got away from 
the established idea that manufacturing plants must be situated on the banks 
of the Fox river, in the heart of the business and industrial centers. The site 
at the northern city limits is an ideal one. An abundance of good light and 
air, a fine artesian well furnishing water from a dei)th of 200 feet, and other 
features make the factory one of the most sanitary and pleasant for its 
employes in the city. A sprinkler system has been installed In every i)art 
of the plant, upstairs and down, and this has made a vast difference in the 
insurance rates, to the advantage of the company. Various safety devices 
have been installed, and the result of all these improvements has been that 
insurance and factory inspectors speak in praise of the excellent working 
conditions. The railroad facilities are most adequate, the "Soo" line pass- 



24 



THK MAX FROM HOXOHH 



, 
















i 


%:^-'.i 


s-« 


r ^ 


ipff? 






^ '^^T ^ 






R. 






:jfli 


gj^ 




k'..v.. 


"' '^'^^^^ 




m 




^:5ivv<,4a:^':y. 




-fl 



Cutting the Grass on the Marsh 



ing on one side and the Chicago & Northwestern road on the other. Side- 
tracks are provided so that the company can have its wire grass shipped 
in and unloaded at an elevator, and also load cars with rugs for shipment 
to the market. The AVaite Company sells directly to the trade and does not 
deal with jobbers. 

The Man from Honolulu and his friend Scovandyke made it a point to 
visit the Waite plant one afternoon. "That's a fine location for a factory," 
observed the Honolulu gentleman, as the two approached the establishment, 
in the rear of which, at a lofty height, was a huge water tank capable of 
holding 50,000 gallons of water. Far to the north and east were great 
stretches of level farm lands, with the blue haze far eastward indicating the 
expansive bosom of Lake Winnebago. In the section of the city roundabout 
the factory were to be seen numerous houses, many of them new, indicative 
of a fast growing residence section. "Yes, it's a fine place out here," said 
Scovandyke. 

An Inspection of the interior of the factory indicated lively business 
activity and unusually substantial and modern quarters. The offices are 
comfortable and well furnished, a novelty being a wainscoting made of 
grass matting. The wire grass used by the Waite concern comes from 
marsh meadows the company work in Minnesota. Some of these lands are 
owned outright and others are leased, the company operating its own har- 
vesting crews and maintaining permanent camps and headquarters in some 
places and temporary camps in others. The grass, a slender, jointless fiber 
of uniform size and exceeding toughness and strength, is cut in gavels with 
mowing machines during the summer months, and is bound and stacked 
on the fields after the manner in which farmers handle their grain. Then 
the grass is left in the stacks until properly "cured." The curing of the grass 
requires expert care and treatment, and weather conditions are closely 
watched to get the right degree of "cure." About freezing-up time and 
during the winter the grass is hauled and shipped, being placed in a huge 
warehouse at the local plant. 



GRASS KI'GS AND CARPETS 



From the warehouse the grass passes through the ■hackUng'" process, 
the waste being ooinbed out, leaving the long, even fibers for use in making 
the twine. Tlie waste is sold, as there is a brisk demand for it for packing 
glass, fruit, furniture and so on. The coml)ed fibers are put into the twine 
spinning machines, which are of a special, patented design. Here the 
spears of grass are fed into the machine side 1)y side and the stout twine 
thus formed is wrapped spirally with cotton yarn to make a continuous 
strand. This twine is the filling, better known as the woof, for the rugs and 
matting. Now the twine is wound on sops or bobbins for the shuttles of the 
looms. In the looms is woven the rugs, warps of different colors being used. 
In some rugs a warp of all one color is used and in others there are several 
colors, in stripes, this latter effect being secured by a machine especially 
adapted for the purpose and known as a beamer. Skeins of the colored yarn 
or thread are wound on spools, and these spools placed on a huge reel, 
from which the thread is wound on beams in the color arrangement desired 
In the rugs. 

After the rugs issue from the rattling looms they are ironed out 
smooth on a calender in which large rolls are heated and each rug pressed 
between theni. Next the rug passes through a machine that shears off all 
the loose ends of the grass, making the surface of the rug smooth. The sub- 
sequent step is to cut the rugs into the various lengths and finish the edges 
by suitable bindings of tape. This work is done at sewing machines esi)e- 
cially made for this heavy work. The machines are operated by individual 
motors, which is the method for all the machines. 

From the binding department the rugs go to the stenciling department, 
where special oil stencil paint is used, this being a combination suited for 




I'hoto bv Luck 



One of the Looms that Weave the Carpets 



2f> THE MAN FROM lloXol.ll.r 

wear and non-fadiug qualities. There are about 100 different patterns in 
stencils, these being made by the company and being original and exclusive. 
After the stencil paint has properly dried or "cured," the rugs are baled in 
burlap bags ready for shipment. Each rug is inspected in each step of the 
process. It goes from one operation to the other without a hitch. The 
smallest rug made liy the concern is eighteen by thirty-six inches and the 
largest is twelve by eighteen feet. Some matting is made, but the main 
line consists of rugs. There are about eighteen different sizes of rugs. The 
heaviest shipping season is from Decern l)er 1 to .July 1, but the product is 
sent forth the whole year around. 

One of the firm, in speaking of the bright prospects for the coming year, 
said: "At first the grass rug and mat was considered primarily for summer 
use, the demand being chiefly for porches, summer resort cottages, bunga- 
lows and the like. This idea has passed and the grass rug is an all-the-year 
article now. being used much in dining rooms, offices, nurseries and other 
indoor rooms. The materials entering into the grass rug and the process of 
manufacture are such that the product is fresh and sanitary, and dealers 
have found that there is no floor covering on the market for the same money 
that compares with it in appearance, wear and sanitary features. Its wide 
use for a variety of purposes has caused the sales of the once popular Chinese 
and Japanese matting to fall off in a remarkable degree. ' The Japanese have 
tried to imitate the American iiroduct but have never succeeded." 



CHAPTER VIII 

Making Wrappers for Bottles 

When it comes to combining uniqueness of manufacturing process with 
usefulness of the article made, it would be hard to beat the Oshkosh Bottle 
Wrapper Company, a thriving concern that operates an extensive factory on 
Ohio street, devoted to the manufacture of wrappers for use in packing and 
shipping bottles and in turning out a special packing for furniture. 

The Oshkosh Bottle Wrapper Company was incorporated in 1904 by the 
president of the concern, former Mayor William Dichmann. who previously 
had been active in the grass twine business. One year later Charles A. 
Wakeman purchased an interest in the plant and became treasurer of the 
company. These two men, by personal effort, have built up one of the largest 
industries of the kind in the world. 

The factory has a capacity of half a million Ijottle wrappers every day, 
and its capacity in the line of furniture packing is 270,000 feet daily. This 
packing, if made into one continuous piece ten inches wide, in one year's 
time would make a strip 14, .500 miles long, or if loaded into thirty-six foot 
cars would make twelve trainloads of fifty cars each. 

The process of making paper wrappers for bottles is highly interesting, 
as the Man from Honolulu and Mr. Scovandyke discovered when they were 
permitted to inspect the plant by Messrs. Dichmann and Wakeman. On each 
machine, of which there are halt a hundred or more, the paper passes from 
the roll at one end through a series of rollers, and is cut. folded and glued 



W 1." A I' I' K l.'S F(i \l liO'l'T 



r:s 



27 



mechanically, cuniins out at the other end as the finished product. Each 
machine is capable of manufacturing seventy-five wrappers a minute. The 
wrapper comes out folded perfectly flat. When opened it will fit down over 
a bottle nicely, protecting the top, neck and sides for packing. In making 
the old line of hay wrappers, the hay is straightened out in wisps, cut to size 
and sewed into shape, each machine being able to make twenty-five wrappers 
a minute. 








Where Bottle Wrappers Are Made 



The machines which make the furniture packing feed the hay filling 
into paper tubes and the paper is glued together in some of the machines 
and sewed together in others, the tube of hay being pressed flat and issuing 
from each machine in a continuous ribbon, knives cutting the tube off in 
suitable lengths. Series of conveyors carry the hay along to the operators 
of the machines. 

The eomi)any buys its hay from growers in Winnebago county largely. 
In addition to the hay bought of the farmers of this vicinity, the company 
uses much of the short wire grass that is packed as waste at the local grass 
matting factories. 



28 



TIIK MAN FEO:^[ HONOLULU 




Ex-Mayor William Dichmann and Charles A. Wakeman, 
President and Vice-President Oshkosh Bottle Wrapper Co. 



CHAPTER IX 



He Visits an Artistic Office Building 



Some one told me lliHt 1 ought to see the new Carthage Ijuilding oa 
State street, adjoining The Northwestern office, and so, under the guidance 
of Mr. Scovandyke I went there. Mr. Hardy, the good-natured manager, 
showed us through, and 1 tell you it was a surprise. I liave seen antiquities 
in Italy, Greece and I'^rance, but I have never expected to see so many of 
them in Oshkosh. 

First, at the entrance to the building are two white marble columns 
that once stood in the palace of the Bey of Tunis. Tradition has it that they 
were taken from the ruins of the Roman city of Carthage near Tunis, so 
they date' Ijack al least l.,")!)!) years, forming rjuitc a link lietween the past 
and the present. 



A X A irr 1 ST K" i; 



L 1 ) I X ( i 



Inside the luiildiiis the eye is pleased with a wainscot ins of square 
green tile and a frieze originally designed liy Thorwaldsen. the great Danish 
sculptor. This frieze is a most beautiful work of art. It represents in plas- 
ter the entry of Alexander the Great into lialiylon. and the original is now 
in the Royal Museum at Copenhagen. 

What is more grotesque, more fantistic, than the Chinese idea of a liou? 
Just inside the door of the main entrance are a couple of Chinese lions or 
dragons in old bronze and mounted on Chinese black-wood heavily carved. 
These dragons are quite common in China, but very rare elsewhere, and are 
seen only in the gi'eat museums. 

There is an artistic stairway of steel and marble leading to the second 
story, and the floor is covered with tile after the style used in the buried city 
of Pompeii. The rooms are large and well lighted, and the tw'o front ones 
on both floors have large fire-places of Philadelphia face lirick in classic 
designs. 

A curious decoiation is the rare Persian tiles. Every lover of ceramics 
knows that the old Persians possessed the a"rt of coloring tiles and porcelain 
much superior to every modern workman. Over the mantels on the first 




I'ln.lo 1,> l.ilck 

Carthage liuildinK, Showing .Marble Columns From Old Roman City 



31) 



THE MAX FKO^r IK) XC) L L' L U 



floor are sonic of these Persian tiles in vine and flower patterns more than 
twelve inches wide and rich in color effect. Tiles of this kind are in the 
Metropolitan MiiBeuni in \e\v York, bvit probably nowhere else in the United 
States. 




One of the Mantels With Rare Persian Tile 



Inserted in the plastering in the main corridor and also over the man- 
tels on the second floor are Persian tiles of another kind. They represent 
human figures, Persian "mullahs" or priests, warriors and statesmen. Here 
again the coloring is wondrously lieautiful and the figures are interesting 
to the student or antiquarian. The high priest wears the robe used in the 
time of Abraham and all are rare and of exquisite finish. 

Over the fire-place in the second story is a tile representing a Persian 
hero mounted on a fiery charger, with a beautiful bird of paradise just above 
him. In September, an Armenian gentleman, a graduate of Yale, visited 
Oshkosh and examined the tile and translated the Arabic inscription on it 
as follows: "Mef-ser-mer-zah" and the date, A. D. 997. He was most 
enthusiastic in his admiration of the tiles and declared that nothing like 
them could be found in the United States. 

While the Ijuilding struck me as unusually artistic and attractive in its 
design and furnishing, it seems to be iilanned for comfort and convenience, 
and I never saw anything of its kind more pleasing in every respect. 



AX AirnsTlC BU IT. DING 



I would like to stay another week and visit some of the otlier places 
of interest in ()shkosh, hut my time is limited and I must start hack day 
after tomorrow. ()n the loth 1 exjject to sail from San I'rancisco for 
Honolulu, and when you are reading this in Oshkosh. 1 shall he enjoying 
nivself amid flowers and \ines of our heautiful Hawaiian liome. 




Steel and Marble Stairway 



I,ater my friends in Honolulu will read it. and, as for me, I shall 
never forget the two delightful weeks T spent in the beautiful little city 
of Oshkosh. 

"So long. " 




THE END 



DEC 30 1912 




PRESSOR 

CASTLL- pierce: CO. 

OSHKOSH 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 091 536 5 % 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



016 091 536 5 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



